Potty training- What should I do next?

I am looking for some potty training advice.† Julia is my first so I have never potty trained before.† She is almost 2 1/2 and we have done some very basic potty training.† She sits on the potty before and after her bath and she goes in it about 50% of the time I would say.† She seems to have a good understanding of what the potty is for and she totaly has the routine of wiping, flushing down.† She does not seem to be aware of when she needs to go, at least she doesn't communitcate it if she does.

I am thinking she is ready for a little more, but I don't know what the next step is.† Should I just pick a few more "potty times" and try to work them into the routine?

I was also wondering if I should swich from diapers to Pull-Ups.† Any thoughts?

Does she know the sign for potty? We are pretty much where you are - Anya sits on her potty after mealtimes and sometimes goes. She occasionally also signs potty and sometimes we make it on time and other times its in her diaper! She knows what the potty is for and is slowly developing the awareness of when she has to go. A lot of people have advised us to let her go bare bottomed so she will feel it running down her leg but I'm putting it off because I just dont have the time for the constant clean up with another 5 month old!¬†

Agree with Sapna -- we taught Isaac the sign for "toilet" and ask him frequently whether he needs to go.¬† It works pretty well, sometimes with comic results:¬† yesterday he had to pee so badly, he was signing "toilet" and banging on the bathroom door with great vigor.

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- Irene, mother to boy papooses b. 01/25/2009 T21, and 10/01/2010, both born at home (intentionally!)

We are using pull-ups during the day. Emily is going on the potty 4x a day. I have not quite gotten a schedule down yet. I need to start leaving the house earlier to allow for potty time before therapy. I bought a second potty for the car.

We had a lot of difficulty with this until we adopted a routine for taking her: as soon as she woke up, after breakfast, mid-morning, before lunch, etc. Be sure to include before you walk out the door, when you get to someplace, and before bath. This routine helped her immensely. We also put regular undies in her pull-ups - she felt the wetness but we didn't have to.

The bare bottom thing worked for my first child (typical daughter). She was potty trained in no time! I just put a t-shirt on her and let her go! You would see the panic look on her face when she needed to go, but didn't know what to do. I would just point to her potty and tell her to go on the potty. Jayden is only 18 months and not walking, so we aren't to that point yet. But, I plan to do the same as I did with my first. I did use Pull-Ups once she got the hang of it so she could pull them up and down on her own. I got her completely potty trained by showing her all the cute panties that we could buy if she used the potty!

Aimee, First off all thanks for starting this threat I have a friend who's DS dtr is 5 and still in diapers and I was starting to be worried about this but you all have given me hope that we can start next year. I was a nanny for several years and I would let the kids run outside naked so no clean up required I would do pull ups or cloth diapers inside. I just try to stear them away from carpeted areas when naked mostly. I am hoping to test this next year with Rylan when after he turns 2 I think summer is one of the best times to do this because they can run around naked and not be cold.

I refuse to potty train myself so we're still using diapers.¬† Ella will go potty on her toilet when I put her on it.¬† She poops in the potty after meals and if I catch her with¬†"the look."¬† She gets the routine, knows what she's supposed to do and loves to be rewarded.¬†

However, she doesn't tell me when she needs to go.¬† She will go whenever I suggest it or put her on the pot.¬†

Pull ups are really no different than a diaper & will not help a child learn to go potty sooner.¬† Cloth is a great suggestion, or I have heard of people using a pair of panties inside a diaper or pull up so a child can still feel if they are wet, although I used this only for going out when I didn't want to worry about an accident.

I have heard that often there is a 6 month lag between kids with DS being schedule trained & asking to go when they need to.¬† It was more like a couple of months for my dd.